Posts tagged “show jumping”

I was asked to have a look at this horses photograph with a view to paint her for this challenge… my first thoughts were about what an expressive eye she had, then I drank in the purple, burgundy, lilac, orange and peach, I instantly knew I had to paint her…

The headcollar was a patterned blue nylon so I substituted for a leather look, removed the lead rope and allowed the lovely linen finish of the canvas to become a very quiet and simple background…..

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Tonight has been ‘Art Club Demonstration’ night, and I popped along to Dinnington Art Club near Rotherham, South Yorks, for a quick spot of horse in acrylics…

My last demonstration at this club I completed a detailed portrait of a wee Pekingese dog owned by one of the audience. Tonight I had been asked to paint a horse in acrylics, and I knew the one I wanted to work on!

I’d come across a photo quite recently of a lovely grey Arabian stallion, all arched neck and flying mane – he would make an eye catching painting and also a chance to draw the basics with a few sweeping lines, to increase the colour in shadow and to use a loose technique with little detail – 2 hours goes very fast when you are sat at an easel with an audience asking questions!

This Art Group has a very professional set up – camera trained on my painting and projected onto a cinema wall! So I was viewing my own work at about 8 foot tall!

Upon completing the painting and returning home, I wondered if I should refine some areas of the painting, but upon reflection, I decided that I would only fiddle and may spoil some of that energy and flow within the painting…..

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I have invited people to send in photos of their own bay or grey horses to give both Roxanne and myself some new inspiration to work from… This lovely chap in the painting, Quest, was one of the images sent in by his owner.

I’m sure that Roxanne will agree with me when I say you know within seconds of seeing an image, whether it is something you would like to work from…. I’d say I chose this image within 3 seconds, drawn to the heightened colour and the possibility of working broader and looser with the brush, AND it has my most favourite colour combinations of purple / orange / blue colour mixes. I’ve really enjoyed a quiet studio day creating this gorgeous horses portrait, and I’m delighted to report that his owner loves the result and the painting is now sold.

If you want your horses to be our artists muse, email images to the below email address and we will give careful consideration to all submitted – no obligation to purchase if we paint from your image, but you will be offered first refusal on the artwork before it is offered to public sale……

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It’s all about colour and light… A young event horse quietly and very calmly waiting his turn in the arena, closing his eyes against the brightness of the sun yet still remaining in soft submission to his rider, his ears constantly flicking – drinking in the sounds and the hustle and bustle around him… the sort of horse I’d like to be sat on rather than the highly strung creatures upset by a five minute wait…. The moment in time that my camera captured a number of photographs of this lovely animal led to the title ‘Calm Before The Storm’, as he then blitzed his way around the show jumping arena, jumping clear, then produced a 0-60 mph gallop, impressing the judges to lie a very respectable third in the 5 year old division…..

I was inspired to paint this piece when I visited Bramham International Horse Trials earlier this year and took a number of reference photographs. I’m enjoying finding my compositions by cropping my photographs tighter and tighter. This horse was in fact a beautifully marked skewbald (brown and white patches), but so I could squeeze him into this painting challenge, I creatively altered his base colour!

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Yep, after the 100 paintings in 100 days challenge of 2011, I’ve been challenged again, but this time it is a more manageable size! Infact I’m sharing the 30 day painting spree with fellow equestrian artist Roxanne Gooderham….. We are doing alternate days and producing 15 paintings each.

I’ve bought myself some oil paints – a new medium for me and I thought there was no better way to get to know them than to jump in at the deep end. I’ve probably done about 10 oil paintings over the past few months, and just love the sticky, shiny gloopiness that gives the paint a lovely gloss and blendability.

My only problem is that I broke my wrist last week, but it’s not my painting hand, so shouldn’t hold me back too much!

My explanation for this furious painting activity is:

“Jane’s favourite medium is acrylics and she is inspired by the fall of light and colour in shadow. She has used acrylics for almost 20 years but now she is increasingly using coloured pencils and just starting to work in oil paints.
She is intending to use this artistic challenge as an opportunity to experiment and develop more confidence and expression within her pencil work and to open up the self-imposed constraints of her acrylic paintings by creating more atmosphere and intrigue by working with the oils in a more creative manner….
An artist always ‘up for a challenge’, Jane will be working this challenge alongside her teaching activities and commission work, so the scale of the pieces produced will be directly influenced by the time available each day….”

Below are three examples of my new work using oils… I’m more able to describe a shiny coat and the sparkle in the eyes…..

Bay Mare I

Bay Mare II

All of my 15 paintings over 30 days will be for sale unless stated reserved. If you would like me to consider one of your images to paint, please send to arrkidd@yahoo.co.uk

I would be grateful for any support or encouragement you can give me as I will still be teaching, looking after my Duracell daughter, doing a pony club camp and running two art courses in my studio through August, so it won’t just be a case of painting every day, it may be a case of finding time to paint at all!

I’ve torn myself away from a growing fetish for Lorenzo’s grey horses… to paint another lovely grey… This is Seb… I’ve used my Atelier Interactive acrylics to achieve more of a blended surface today.. the reference photo had no sharp detail so I’ve tried to paint in a softer manner adding lots of colour..

A big thank you to my facebook friend, Ann Savage, for allowing me to paint this beautiful horse….

I’m really feeling more confident with my colour mixing now, and can get what I want quicker and with less frequent mutterings and cups of coffee!!!

Lorenzo is now going to have to wait till after my 100 days…..

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I’ve only managed a little painting tonight, as I think that I may need a little liquid refreshment before an early night… This painting is really just a bit of fun, as all of my brain cells seem to have burnt out this afternoon….

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Its been an early studio start this morning, I dropped my lil one off at nursery and got cracking…this is my 7th drawing of the morning, and it’s the first one I felt that really started to work for me…….

Yesterday I blogged..

“I’m still fighting being accurate with being loose and experimental; as yet the two do not go hand-in-hand….. “

I struggled to get to sleep last night as I was really racking my brains as to what I was trying to do, and as yet didn’t have the visual ideas in my head (it’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack). I can remember thinking I needed a major shift in media and that I needed to use my drawing skills more and allow them to show, rather than only drawing as a structure for a painting….the polo drawing of day 51 had got me really thinking….

I thought I’d show you how my drawings developed this morning, the failures and the progress I made….

drawing 1

drawing 2

drawing 4

drawing 5

drawing 6

drawing 7

I became briefer and briefer…. trying to concentrate on shape. I soon realised I was trying to do too much and needed to leave colour and background out, I often tend to look too hard and copy too much… I think my final drawing has the simplicity of line and (more) accuracy of form that I need to work towards…

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Today has been a short, sharp burst of experimentation……. I only had barely over an hour, as tonight I need to draw up a big commission as I have only 3 weeks working time to complete it……..

I used another photo donated to me by Amanda Deadman, a talented artist, as my reference. The photo shows a young girl hosing down a ewe necked polo pony, my inspiration came from the gleam on it’s wet coat and the almost awkward pose… I’ve changed it a little; improved the horses topline, removed the girl and played a little with the colours..

I’m still fighting being accurate with being loose and experimental; as yet the two do not go hand-in-hand…..

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